Tag: easter

Let’s celebrate Easter with a Mindfunda Blogpost about the symbolism of the egg. Don’t you find it is strange that eggs and easter have become so close?

Egg: Origin of the World

We will have to go back to East Asia, between 1700 en 1100 BCE. In the Rig Veda, a book that contains 1017 rhymes it is said that:

Jacob Bryant’s Orphic Egg (1774

“The Creator, as Hiranyagarbha, arose from the great waters and by his power and energy germinated the egg containing the world matter, thus setting in motion the process of Creation. From this standpoint, Creation was not a new beginning but a rearrangement, setting things in a proper order.”

But that was a long time ago. Why are we still fooling around with eggs around easter?

Egg: Changing Perception of the Universe

Einstein, the guy we all love, because he was not only a genius, but also a very good marketeer (he invented personal branding), changed the perceptions of the universe.

Cartoon: Tom Richmond at tomrichmond.com

And like any major change this one: that we, the species living on earth, are just a tiny part of a much bigger system.

And we are really the center… nothing really…

BUT: by discovering so much more about the creation of the universe those old mythologies became populair again.

It wasn’t really coincidence that Carl Jung wrote about the cosmic egg in his red book.

Egg: The Red Book

In the Red Book Jung has a scene that involves the cosmic egg. This cosmic egg has a seed in it: the promise of fertilization and growth.

Doesn’t that remind you of the Seed Of Yggdrasil? Maria Kvilhaugg describes in her book how the Tree of Life clearly has a seed that brings fertility on earth.

Carl Jung, The Red Book Izdubar

“On the evening of the third day, I kneel down and carefully open the egg. Something resembling smoke rises up from it and suddenly Izdubar is standing before me, enormous, transformed, and complete. His limbs are whole and I find no trace of damage on them. It’s as if he had awoken from a deep sleep”.

Izdubar represents the inner voice, the silent inner knowing that does not need evidence. Jung even sees science as the thing that wounded Izdubar.

Izdubar crawls out of the egg and gives light like the sun. The egg, birth and the sun they are always connected. But haven’t you, like me, ever wondereed why on earth we celebrate the death of our god Jesus when nature starts to emerge, and we celebrate his birth in the darkest days?

Egg: Symbolic Meanings

As I have already mentioned in an earlier Easter blog about the goddess Eostre, on a very literal level people used to eat a lot of eggs during Easter because they were not allowed to eat them during lent, so they saved up tons of them.

But does an egg have more symbolic meanings than fertility?

The color yellow in the egg is the brightest colour to the human eye. The colour is associated with youth and happiness.

In general eggs are considered to represent new possibilities. Unlike my attempt to associate sex dreams (see #2) in a different way as the usual “you want to unite with the thing your sex partner represents” theme, I have not been able to use my creativity here.

But I do have, as an Easter Bonus a nice blog I wrote about chocolate. Have fun this Easter and eat a lot of (chocolate) eggs.

THIS CONTENT IS CREATED BY SUSANNE VAN DOORN, AUTHOR AND OWNER OF MINDFUNDA; MAKING THE FUNDAMENTALS OF PSYCHOLOGY, MYTHOLOGY AND SPIRITUALITY EASY TO USE IN YOUR PERSONAL LIFE!

What is Mindfunda about?

My name is Susanne van Doorn, I am a Dutch psychologist, blogger and author. I have been working with psychology, dreams and mythology ever since I finished my study in psychology at Tilburg University. I made this independent site to share insights, and recent scientific articles about the brain, dreams, and mythology for use in your personal life.

This posting is categorised as Mythofunda:
“Myths are public dreams, dreams are private myths” Joseph Campbell used to say. This part of Mindfunda shows you how your personal mythology can create peace in your life.

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Easter Origin. Every time at Easter, Facebook postings and blogs are (re)published that talk about Eostre or Ostara. Let me tell you the real story.

Easter Origin: Eostre – Ostara

Eostre and the German variation of that name Ostara all mean East. There is no evidence of them being goddesses of fertility. So where does this story come from? We will have to go centuries back, to an old monk.

In 520, Dionysius Exiguus used the old data of Alexandria to create a new table to calculate Easter. Those Alexandria tables were created in the year 300 and Dionysius Exiguus recalculated them so they could be used in the Julian time frame.

In 616 monk Beda Venerabilis recalculated these dates into the Eastern cycle that is used to this date. This calculation uses the cycles of the moon (19 years) and the cycles of the sun (28 years). I know that sounds complicated. What it means is that it takes 19 years before there is a new moon again on January the first. It takes 28 years for January 1 to be the first Sunday of the year. He wrote the book Temporem Ratione; The Reckoning of Time about it.

In this book he mentions the Goddess Eostre as a goddess that is worshiped in England. The month of April would be names after her. But… there is no further evidence that there was any worship of her in England.

Easter Origin: Grimm

More than thousand years later, Jacob Grimm, one of the famous Grimm brothers, suggested that there had been a Goddess of spring and fertility called Ostara.

Grimm based his knowledge on the book Vita Carola Magni, or the Life of Charlemagne. written by historian Einhard, somewhere between 817 and 836.

Einhard indicates that the month of april is to be called ostarmanoth. Yet he fails to mention a goddess Ostara… But this was enough for Grimm to assume that there had been a Goddess named Ostara. Unfortunately, there are not a lot of historical claims to back that up.

Easter Origin: Fertility

Before you go away depressed, I would have to mention that Easter origin related to fertility. Spring, the victory of light that made crops grow was celebrated in almost every society.

The Romans celebrated Cerelia, a feast dedicated to Ceres, Goddess of agriculture. the Celts celebrated Beltane, a counterpart of Samhein. Beltane is a feast dedicated to fertility and light. In Hinduism Holi-Phagwa is celebrated.

But where do the bunny and the eggs com from?

Easter Origin: Bunny and Eggs

Because of lent, people were not allowed to eat the eggs that their chickens laid. So at easter, when lent was over, all those eggs were boiled and eaten.

Of course there is the symbolism of an egg and the new life it represents. It is a very ancient practice to decorate eggs to celebrate spring. It goes back to ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia.

In early Christianity, red stained eggs where remainders of the blood of Christ, who died and was resurrected.

But what is the easter origin of the bunny? The idea that a hare could reproduce without the loss of virginity made the association with of the hare with the Virgin Mary easy.

In the protestant religion, the Easter Bunny gave good children eggs and bad children received nothing. This tradition went with the German emigrants to America.

Do you like this story? Feel free to share. I hope you will have a wonderful Easter and a year filled with new fertility.

THIS CONTENT IS CREATED BY SUSANNE VAN DOORN, AUTHOR AND OWNER OF MINDFUNDA; MAKING THE FUNDAMENTALS OF PSYCHOLOGY, MYTHOLOGY AND SPIRITUALITY EASY TO USE IN YOUR PERSONAL LIFE!

What is Mindfunda about?

My name is Susanne van Doorn, I am a Dutch psychologist, blogger and author. I have been working with psychology, dreams and mythology ever since I finished my study in psychology at Tilburg University. I made this independent site to share insights, and recent scientific articles about the brain, dreams, and mythology for use in your personal life.

This posting is categorised as Mythofunda:
“Myths are public dreams, dreams are private myths” Joseph Campbell used to say. This part of Mindfunda shows you how your personal mythology can create peace in your life.

Comments or suggestions? Share your thoughts:

Your Name (required)

Your Email (required)

Subject

Your Message

We hate Spam as much as you do, your information is safe with us and we will not provide your data to others. To authenticate you are human, you are kindly asked to opt-in on periodic updates as the Mindfunda Monthly. Please check the appropriate box below, and fill in the little puzzle